Hello all,
Recently I found in Alibaba, listings of some of the Integrated Circuits that were used on the Dreamcast. I was wondering how could this be possible, especially with the case of Dreamcast's GPU (CLX2?) that was a product from NEC specifically designed for the Dreamcast.
From a search in various forums and the internet, people suggest caution mainly because of 1) a relatively high percentage of malfunctioning ICs that are being sold in Alibaba, 2) some even claim that many of the sellers export counterfeited ICs. While some of the simpler ICs can be copied, I do not see how a chinese manufacturer could have counterfeited a complicated chip such as CLX2 as it could be a process that would require a lot of money and effort.
I would imagine that the production of those ICs used for the Dreamcast (or at least some of them) would have stopped by now.
-Could those ICs still be manufactured?
-If yes, do the chinese have licenses for that or could there be legal complications for anyone that would use them?